Geneva, 7 October: The Planetary Health Alliance, a global consortium hosted within the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the University of São Paulo have this week launched the São Paulo Declaration on Planetary Health.
Developed by the global planetary health community with support from the United Nations Development Programme, the Declaration states that humans must make transformational shifts now in how we live in order to optimize the health and well-being of all people and the planet we depend on. It also provides guidance to a range of stakeholder groups across society with suggested concrete actions that support a more just and regenerative post-pandemic world. The Declaration has also been published in the Lancet.
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) joins over 250 organizations from 47 countries in endorsing the Declaration.
“The urgency of this moment is hard to overstate,” said Sam Myers, Director of the Planetary Health Alliance, and principal research scientist in environmental health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “Planetary health science convincingly demonstrates that the ongoing degradation of our planet’s natural systems is a clear and present danger to the health of all people everywhere.”
Diane Holdorf, WBCSD’s Managing Director of Food and Nature, said: “WBCSD has signed the São Paolo Declaration on Planetary Health because it is strongly aligned with our vision of a world where more than nine billion people are all living well, within planetary boundaries. WBCSD will continue to rally the global business community to drive solutions that help realize a net zero, nature positive and equitable future”.
The Declaration makes the case that the sustainability and long-term profitability of businesses depends on the well-being of society and Nature. It calls for investments and corporate principles that correspond to planetary health values and for strategies that decrease greenhouse gas emissions, increase biodiversity, reduce soil, air and water pollution, and improve health equity.
WBCSD is pleased to be a key strategic partner of the Planetary Health Alliance and continues to work closely with the consortium in the context of its Healthy People, Healthy Business project, a cross-sectoral initiative that seeks to maximize the potential of the global business to support universal access to the highest possible standards of physical health and mental wellbeing.
